2008: The year of the bent display

This week's Society for Information Display conference is under way, and the latest advances in display surfaces are being shown off. Perhaps one of the more intriguing examples looks a little bent...literally.

Early this year, the public was treated to its first peek into the latest developments in the field of panoramic monitors, such as Alienware's "Ultimate Gaming Display", a 2,880 x 900 pixel DLP curved monitor, and NEC's prototype 42-inch CRVD-LMD with the same specs. Shortly after, Polymer Vision announced production had begun on its Readius 3G "e-book phone" with a foldable 254 ppi monochrome screen that has been in development for almost four years.

Now, AUO has announced the production of its curved TFT-LCD display, claiming that unlike The Readius' e-paper, the glass substrate provides better clarity and uniformity of brightness, making it a potentially useful screen to mount in ergonomically-curved applications like watches or automobile consoles.

But late last week, in anticipation for the Society for Information Display (SID) conference taking place in Los Angeles this week, Polymer Vision announced it had constructed a full-color prototype of its rollable display. Capable of displaying 65k colors at a resolution of 127 ppi, Polymer Vision's display can roll up to a radius of 6mm, or roughly the diameter of a ballpoint pen.

AUO's display is decidedly more stiff, but it has its potential applications.

With the SID conference currently under way, expect to hear more about the flexible, curved, and bending displays being shown during this week.